improve grades

Jul 16 2019

How the top pre-meds start off the semester strong

One of the biggest mistakes many premeds make is not starting the semester off strong. The beginning of the semester represents one of the greatest opportunities to put yourself in line to secure that A in your class! Its very important to start off strong because that will the set the tone for your whole semester. Remember, it is always easier to maintain an A in a class once you already got it than it is to work your way up to one from a lower grade. So by getting off to the right foot from the very beginning you increase your chances of making an A greatly. Not only that but it is also way less stressful knowing you are in a good situation rather than worrying if you will make the grade you want or not. We are going to go over some of the best methods to make sure you start the semester off right!

Before we go any further, make sure to read my article “How the A student starts their next semester“. This gives advice more on how to prepare for your next semester, but some of the content overlaps. However in this article though I really want to emphasize the point of staying ahead and being one step ahead of your teachers. Yes, this method takes more effort than to not do it. But the real secret to making good grades is hard work. Work smart and work hard and you will definitely achieve your goals. So how do I stay ahead of the class?

The main ways to stay ahead of your class are by:

Pre-reading the powerpoint before class
Reading the chapter in your book before your teacher lectures on it
Watching youtube videos on the topic
Doing practice problems

The reason it is so important to do this is because the material is ALWAYS easier to understand the second or third time you see or hear it. You want to already have been exposed to the material your teacher will go over in class before they do. Especially if it is hard material. By having already read the powerpoints, the book chapter, watching videos, and doing practice problems you will be way ahead of everyone else in your class. And then when finally your teacher lectures on the topic, they will only help to clarify anything that confused you. By having already pre-read and prepared for lecture, you will also have a list of questions you can ask your teacher. While the other students are hearing this for the first time and trying to just even understand whats going on, you will be solidifying what you know or clarifying on things that confused you.

This is especially important during the beginning of the semester because you will be introduced usually to a bunch of brand new content. In the beginning of a semester, usually the easiest tests and quizzes are given out. So you want to take advantage of that and grab those easy A’s early on! Getting off to the right start early on will set a good pace for your whole semester. The momentum of how you do in the beginning is often carried throughout the entire semester, so you want to get this right! So make sure you read ahead and are prepared for your next lecture! This will definitely help you achieve the grades you want!

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Sep 14 2017

You need to be doing this for EVERY test

Hello Pre-Meds! I got a simple technique that I began using in my Junior year of college that has helped me tremendously with preparing for exams. I am very happy to share this with you all because it is so simple and easy to implement. Use this technique with my other advice and I am sure your test grades and GPA will soon skyrocket!

We all know that exams are an essential part of being a pre-med. They can make you or break you, and it is often something most pre-med students fear. It is absolutely critical to come into an exam feeling confident. You should already know you are going to make an A on the test before you even step inside. Don’t and I repeat DONT ever go into a test with the mindset that you will wing it and it will all work out. You must have prepared for every aspect of your test prior to sitting down and taking it. Preparation is everything! And there are certain ways you can make sure you are prepared enough for the exam. Thats where creating a good study list comes in handy. Having a good study list and knowing how to use it properly can literally change how you approach every exam from now on. I never take a test without first creating a study list and using it. In this article I am going to show you exactly how to create awesome study lists that will let you enter any exam with confidence!

What is a study list?

A study list is a specific list that you make to help you know what to focus on for an exam. A study list is useful because it both guides your studying to make it efficient and allows you to know when you are ready for your exam. After you have completed your study list you should be confident to go into any exam and ace it! It is an almost fool-proof method of acing your exams.

This is an example study list for a statistics test:

In this study list you can see exactly what you need to focus on for the test. The study list allows you to pinpoint what you need to focus on and then gives you an opportunity to mark it off when you understand it. Once you have mastered everything on your list you know you are fully ready to ace your exam. Preparation is key. And having an exact list of what to focus on will let you know when your preparation is complete. Check off everything on your list and then go into your exam confident!

MAKE SURE TO MASTER EVERY ITEM ON YOUR STUDY LIST BEFORE TAKING THE EXAM. How well you will do on your exam depends on two things: How thorough you make your study list and if you can master each item on it. Make a good study list and complete it before your exam and you will ace it. Period.

How to make a study list:

The first thing I do when making a study list is add the name of the class and the date of the test. This helps me stay oriented to when all my exams are and what subject I’m looking at. When you have multiple exams coming up this is very helpful for keeping track of what to study for.

You can use either a sticky note app, a text document, or hand-written study lists. I have used all three methods and each have their advantages. Just find a convenient method for you that allows you to see it on a regular basis. You want to be reminded as much as possible that you have an exam coming up and what you need to study for it. So make sure your study list is easy to find otherwise it defeats the purpose.

Make sure every item you add to your study list is very specific. You want to make your study list only the things you must know for the exam. The more specific the better. You want to include anything that might appear on the test. The point of the study list is to make sure you are prepared. Don’t leave any gaps in the list. You want to be prepared for anything that might appear. So make sure it is both comprehensive and specific. I will go into two examples of how I make study lists.

Example study list for Chemistry test and how to use it:

So lets imagine we have a Gen Chem exam coming up. The first thing we want to do is write when the test date is so we can keep track. Then we want to make a list of everything we know will be on the exam or might be on the exam. Make sure these are specific topics to learn. After you have done that you should have something that looks like this ..

Notice that all of the topics added to the list are specific and are reasonable to master.

After you have made your list start by going through each topic one by one. Focus on mastering that topic or until you feel certain you will do well on the exam for those questions. Once you have done that for a topic you can mark it off by either striking through it or deleting it off your list. Lets say that you just finished reading your textbook and did some practice problems on oxidation states, balancing redox reactions, and stoichiometry. Once you feel like you got these topics mastered or at least feel you got the hang of them, check them off your list. Your list should look like this now..

Just keep on mastering each topic on your study list until you have checked them all off your list.

After checking all the topics off your list you are going to be well prepared to handle your exam! It is really that simple. Make a list of all the topics you need to master. Go through your list one by one until you have checked them all off. Once they are all checked off you know that you are prepared and should feel confident! Here is another example for a biology exam.

Example study list for Biology test:

Once again, start by putting the course name and the test date. Make a list of all the topics you need to learn. And master each one of them.

Until all of the topics are mastered. You get the point by now.

After mastering each topic you are fully ready to ace your exam!

Summarizing points:

A study list allows you to organize your studying to make it more efficient and provides a way to know when you are ready for your exam
Make a study list that covers every topic on your exam
Master each topic on your study list one by one, checking them off the list
Once you have mastered each topic on your study list you are ready to take the exam!

The best way to guarantee that you will ace your exams is by going into the test confident. I cannot emphasize this enough. You should always go into your exam knowing how well you will do. If you don’t go in knowing you will make an A, then you didn’t study enough. A study list is a great way to keep track of your tests and how well prepared you are for them. Always go into an exam already knowing you will make an A. Master every topic on your study list and you are going to do well!

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Aug 08 2017

Make sure you focus on this for the MCAT

The MCAT is one of the most important exams you will ever take as a pre-med. That is why it is so important to use your time wisely when preparing for it and to prepare in the most effective way possible. It is definitely important and necessary to do a comprehensive background knowledge review to do well on the MCAT, but also equally as important to learn how to TAKE the test. What I mean by that is you need to grow an intuitive understanding of how questions are asked on the MCAT, how to approach different types of problems, and the kind of answers that the MCAT is looking for. It is absolutely critical to develop your MCAT specific test taking skills during your studying sessions.

As you study for the MCAT, you will begin noticing patterns in the way the questions are asked and the kind of answers associated with them. Each section of the MCAT is approached slightly differently and I will go over in more detail on how to approach each of the four sections in other articles. But for all of the sections, developing MCAT specific test taking skills will certainly help boost your score. Of course you will need the background knowledge and skills to be able to answer them better, but knowing the kind of answers the MCAT is looking for can help make a big difference in choosing the right one. When you are down to just to two answer choices, having developed an intuitive understanding for what is right can be what gets you the right answer. So how do you develop your MCAT test taking skills?

The main method of improving your MCAT specific test taking skills is by simply doing more practice problems. For this, it is important to use practice problems that most simulate the actual MCAT exam, such as the AAMC practice problems, Princeton review practice tests, and Magoosh MCAT practice problems. Using practice problems from resources such as the ExamKrackers 1001 practice problems is useful. However, I found that ExamKrackers was better at helping me review and practice specifically for the content of the MCAT rather than more so how the exam is structured. There is definitely a place for that kind of review in your study, but make sure you spend a good amount of time using the resources I mentioned above in your studying. By studying practice problems that resemble the actual exam you will develop a sense for what the question is asking and how to most effectively tackle it. So make sure to not limit yourself only to reviewing material. For me, I spent a good month or so reviewing material and the rest of my time doing practice problems. And in many ways practice problems are the best way to review material and learn it.

The second method to utilize for improving your MCAT test taking skill is to focus on reviewing why you missed a problem. When I say that, I mean you need to focus on understanding what mistakes did you make in your approach to answering the problem. Did you not refer back to the passage? Did you rush too quickly to answer the question? Did you not read the question carefully enough and misunderstood it? Did you not know the material? Once you know the answer to these questions, you know what causes you to miss questions. This allows you to learn what areas of test taking you need to focus on. It is very important you learn WHY you are missing questions. I encourage you to make an excel sheet or a list in Microsoft word that has all of these questions in it. Next to each question, start making a tally for each time you missed a question for that reason. So as you do your practice tests and you miss questions, just quickly refer back to that document and mark why you missed the question. After a few weeks of doing this you will have a very easy to interpret set of data that will make you aware of something you didn’t notice before. You may have never known or thought it was a big deal before that you didn’t refer back to the passage enough, but after seeing the data you will realize it needs to be fixed. I personally used this message and it helped me notice some mistakes I was making that I was completely unaware of!

So in summary, it is just as important to focus on developing your MCAT specific test taking skills and an intuitive sense for the answers. This is done through practice problems that resemble the real exam and by reviewing why you missed a problem. Go ahead and make a document where you can tally the reasons you miss questions and you will begin noticing trends. Once you know these trends you can fix them and that will help you improve your score. It is incredibly important to analyze what you missed and why. So keep grinding those practice problems and trying to figure out why you miss questions. You will develop amazing MCAT test taking skills in no time!

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Jan 26 2017

Here’s a much better way to take notes from powerpoints (alternate version)

Hey guys, heres a quick tip to help improve your note taking ability in classes that use powerpoint. As I mentioned in my article , the proper way to take notes , you absolutely shouldn’t be copying down words on the powerpoint if they post them online. This is a waste of your time and doesnt lead to better notes. Instead you should be focusing on what the professor is saying ABOUT those powerpoint slides. I showed a method of how to do that in the article , the best way to take notes in a powerpoint class , where you are able to print out three powerpoint slides on one page with a section for notes next to each slide. This method is for those of you who bring a laptop to class. If you like actually writing something down then I would suggest go reading the other article.

This one is super easy! Simply take the notes straight in powerpoint! Under each slide there is a section for notes. Like this:

premed, pre med, pre-med, medical school, med school, science, chemistry, biology, physics, organic chemistry, Biochemistry, MCAT, GPA, tips , advice, tutorial, doctor, physician, surgeon, college, undergrad, university

Simply add in bullet points in for each of the main things your professor says about the slide. Or you can add notes however you want, thats up to you!

The advantage to this method is that it is faster to type than write. However, the major disadvantage is that you won’t be able to draw. This means you won’t be able to draw structures, reactions, draw out math equations, pictures. As with the other method that I showed in this article , you can draw on the slides. The only downside to that method is that it will cost you some printer paper (not too much) and it is slower to write than to type. So whether you use this method for taking notes on powerpoints or using the other method will be up to you to decide! Think about what kind of class you have and if it would be more beneficial to type what your intstructor says or being able to draw out structures, pictures, reactions, etc.

I hope this helps! Comment down below if you use this method of note taking and if it helped you! Also please share this page with your fellow pre-meds! Stay tuned for more articles!

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Jun 19 2016

Pre-Med 101: Should I give up on pre-med because of one bad semester?

Being pre-med is tough! It is expected if you want to become a doctor you will have a hard road ahead of you. And with that, things will not always go your way. But what happens if you have a bad semester? Does that mean your dream of getting into medical school stops here? Let’s talk about that in this article.

Medical school is tough to get into. There are tons of competitive applicants fighting for the same spot you are. This means that having a bad semester could make the difference between getting accepted or not. This is why it is best to avoid the situation and stay on top of your studies, however life happens and that things don’t always go your way. So what if your semester doesn’t go the way you want and you made some bad grades? Is there still any hope for getting accepted?

The short answer is.. Yes!

While it does make it more difficult if you had a bad semester, it does not have to be the end of your medical career. Think about how many other pre-med students have had a bad semester or two and still can get accepted. It goes without saying that many pre-meds have had a few hard semesters and not every student makes straight A’s. It’s worth noting that you are not the only one in this situation, there are many in the same boat as you. So take a deep breath! There is definitely still is hope!

What you can do to improve your chances of getting accepted into medical school:

So now you are probably wanting to know how you can boost your chances of getting accepted despite having a bad semester or two. There are two main ways to compensate for doing poorly academically. The first is by making sure all the other aspects of your application shine. Such as having extra shadowing experience, more clinical experience, more volunteering, research experience, strong letters of recommendation, high MCAT score, etc. Medical schools want someone who is well rounded and has what it takes to be a doctor, this is more than just having good grades. The second method, which can be combined with the first, is finding a post-bac program to help you and/or considering going to a Caribbean medical school. For help finding a post-bac program, click here.

If you have a bad semester as a pre-med it doesn’t mean that it is game over. It means that you will have to work a bit harder and make other aspects of your application shine. Really focus on getting a lot of clinical experience and you will find many medical schools are still interested in you. There have been plenty of people who have had a bad semester or two and still got accepted. Don’t give up hope. Instead, focus on trying extra hard to make up for it. Also, consider looking into post-bac programs and going to a Caribbean school. If you give it your all, you will be surprised with how well you can do!

For more information check out our other article:

5 Ways to stay competitive with a low GPA

More helpful premed resources:

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Good luck on your journey to medical school! Premed Community is here to make that a reality!

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